Homework: Marilyn v Marilyn

[nickperkins 52]

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953):

-available for digital rental

 

Some Like It Hot (1959):

-available for digital rental, or you can DVR it from Turner Classic Movies this week

[Llewellyn_Wells 47]

Will be watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the first time this week. Some Like It Hot is one of my all-time favorites, so it will have a lot of work to do!

[j_scanlon 59]

i feel like Some Like it Hot will run away with it. Id rather have Wilder v Wilder with SLIH and The Apartment

[thejlar 8]

i feel like Some Like it Hot will run away with it. Id rather have Wilder v Wilder with SLIH and The Apartment

 

Agreed. 'Gentlemen' is the clear underdog. Who do you hope takes the side of 'Gentlemen' in the 'cast: Devin or Amy?

[Threshold 93]

Agreed. 'Gentlemen' is the clear underdog. Who do you hope takes the side of 'Gentlemen' in the 'cast: Devin or Amy?

Hope? Or will?

Cause I can imagine Amy going Gentlemen- or is that too obvious?

 

 

-Also for a film made the 50's, Some Like it Hot still holds up in regards to the LGBT thought process of today-

I saw Tootsie for the first time recently- and was surprised to see how many gags were made about being gay, being lesbian, being trans.

Some Like it Hot is bizarrely progressive, even by today's stance, I reckon. Although I'm not part of the LGBT community- so what do any LGBT people think of Some Like it Hot?

[NathanGordon 1096]

so what do any LGBT people think of Some Like it Hot?

It's still adored, at least in the circles I've traveled in. It's not quite so campy and therefore probably not as well loved as it was decades ago, before Hedwig, Mommie Dearest, Valley of the Dolls, Rocky Horror, etc etc. In more culturally conservative times, there weren't many films which approached, even in a broad manner, the idea of non-straight sexuality. You used to really have to dig for subtext, which I think irritated many mainstream critics in the 1980s and 90s, less so today. (The idea that Ben Hur is a gay story, for example.) Some Like It Hot was the rare early movie that didn't need such a close reading. For further research, I highly recommend the documentary The Celluloid Closet, which is about this very subject.

 

I would hope that "I Wanna Be Loved By You" via Marilyn Monroe is still in the vast drag queen repertoire.

[Cronopio 127]

How is this even a contest?

[j_scanlon 59]

Agreed. 'Gentlemen' is the clear underdog. Who do you hope takes the side of 'Gentlemen' in the 'cast: Devin or Amy?

Clearly one of them has an affinity for it to pick it over, like, The Seven Year Itch.

 

I'm just happy Jack Lemmon will be (probably) in the Canon.

[Head Spin 112]

I'm looking forward to seeing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I've seen Some Like It Hot once before and wasn't super into it. I love my WIlder generally, so I hope a rewatch gives me a new perspective on it.

[avillaurru14 3]

Can't wait to hear what Amy thinks of "Gentlemen prefer blondes" and its portrayal of blondes. Can't wait for this episode. As fun as "gentlemen" can be though, "Some like it Hot" is the better movie I think. Need to rewatch though

[Marsellus_H 118]

In my mind, Devin is actually going to defend Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, because of historical impact and its iconographic values. I mean for fuck's sake, that pink dress has got its own wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe%27s_pink_dress

That's exactly the argumentation Devin likes to make.

[krungy 0]

SLIH could sail into the canon on general consensus voting alone (it's a fantastic film but a [devin voice] slam dunk), though I love GPB. It's so much fun, and the on (and off) screen affection that Monroe and Jane Russell had for each other is one of the loveliest film friendships of any era imo.

[Threshold 93]

I hadn't seen Gentlemen Prefer Blondes before- YEouch!!

Some like it Hot rightfully will trounce

[Llewellyn_Wells 47]

I hadn't seen Gentlemen Prefer Blondes before- YEouch!!

Some like it Hot rightfully will trounce

 

I hadn't seen it either, and watched it Monday night. I didn't hate it, I thought it was quite enjoyable, but I think Some Like It Hot is a shoe-in now, if it were being inducted on its own, I'd wouldn't call it a shoe-in. I would've liked to see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes vs. Funny Face. I'd like to see more musicals up!

[Head Spin 112]

Man, I felt claustrophobic spending time in the weird gender politics of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It's strange; stuff like Russell's dude-ogling musical number with the Olympians feels progressive today, but everything else...we've still got a long way to go with gender inequality, but watching this movie makes you appreciate what you have (and yes I know it's a heightened reality).

 

The 50s especially have that really creepy thing where men and women romantically act like infants to each other. Marilyn baby talking Esmond while he acted like a pouty little boy to her is the stuff that dry heaves are made of. I didn't hate Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but a weight lifted when it ended.

 

Is anyone else having trouble evaluating these movies on their comedy? I didn't feel like the comedy was bad in either, but I have to admit that Some Like It Hot was more a movie where I just smiled through the comedy. It's not the movie's fault, but 50s comedy doesn't really age well to me. Some Like It Hot has a ton going for it, and I did laugh at parts, but I really didn't find it all that funny and I don't think it's the film's fault. Comedy is just rooted in the moment.

 

Or maybe it's more that I enjoyed the comedic performances and scenarios and physical stuff of Some Like It Hot but the jokes didn't do much for me. Idk, I'm just sort of parsing my feelings on the comedic stuff. I did like it a lot.

[j_scanlon 59]

I have nothing against musicals, and I was actually excited to check out this film, but I did not enjoy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I don't think I'd vote it into the Canon even if it weren't going up against an extremely better film. Everything worth seeing is in one scene.

[groovy-guy 24]

Everything worth seeing is in one scene.

you mean the porthole gag, right?

[Threshold 93]

Man, I felt claustrophobic spending time in the weird gender politics of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It's strange; stuff like Russell's dude-ogling musical number with the Olympians feels progressive today, but everything else...we've still got a long way to go with gender inequality, but watching this movie makes you appreciate what you have (and yes I know it's a heightened reality).

 

The 50s especially have that really creepy thing where men and women romantically act like infants to each other. Marilyn baby talking Esmond while he acted like a pouty little boy to her is the stuff that dry heaves are made of. I didn't hate Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but a weight lifted when it ended.

Totally agree.

I was reminded of the Feminist V Post-Feminist debate in regards to art.

If we look at the film from a post-feminism world- it's great that these two women are doing their own thing- being sexual and/or superficial beings. Especially in regards to that Olympics song.

But we aren't living in that world, or looking at it from that viewpoint, and 1953 certainly wasn't either.

I think it's a film being mocked in Hail, Caesar at it's best- and a horrible contribution to casual sexism from the post-war world.

 

If this film was slightly more progressive with its portrayal of the two main characters' open sexuality (particularly with Jane Russel's character) that second last scene with Jane Russel pretending to be Marilyn, livening up the French Court-room with her antics could have been a fun little screwball musical moment- but it doesn't quite gel with the rest of the movie.